Madelyn Joy's Surgery Update

For those of you that know about what's been going on with our family, it wont surprise you to learn that Maddie's surgery ha been scheduled for Thursday, January 29th, at 8am. For those of you that dont, this is mini rundown of what's been going on with us for the past almost 3 weeks.

We returned from a lovely time in Colorado, celebrated my birthday the 10th of January, and on the following Monday morning, found a marble sized lump in Madelyn's leg/groin area. It was really hard and slightly reddish. We took her to our Pediatrician who then sent us to childrens hospital emergency room. We were there for about 7 hours with lots of testing, blood draw, and an iv. It was horrible, and makes me sick just thinking about the whole ordeal. It was believed to be a swollen lymph node that wasnt going down on its own, and so an antibiotic was prescribed and we were sent home. Shortly after that Maddies temp spiked to about 103 for the next 3 days. On the following Thursday Josh and I took her back to the pediatrician and she seemed unconcerned and sent us home once again (FRUSTRATING!!!) That night Josh and I both woke up to the most violent flu we've ever experienced and spent the next 24 hours unable to keep anything down. God sent us Gigi though to take care of Maddie and luckily she missed it...I cant say the same for Gigi, poor thing. Frustrated since the lump was still there, I took Maddie in again, saw a different doc, and she aggressively got to bottom of things for us, scheduled an appointment with a pediatric surgeon at Children's for us, and reviewed all of Maddie's files, making sure to pass along ALL information. We met with the surgeon last Wednesday (a week ago) and he wanted to remove it, but since it wasn't causing any pain, decided to give it a little time, and we prayed it would heal on its own. Jump forward to today and the lump has actually grown a little in size and is showing a reddish/purple color. We just got word that they can get us in tomorrow morning so they can remove it. 

Of course Im just sick with anxiety and worry and we are so blessed to have family and friends praying for our family. Maddie will be put completely under and the surgery is supposed to last a few hours. She doesnt have to stay the night, but will be in recovery for 3 hours post surgery. 

STUPID, STUPID LITTLE LYMPH NODE, CAUSING US ALL THIS TROUBLE FOR A STUPID LITTLE NODE!!!

Ok, got that off my chest. I am just so blessed by the doctors and surgeons that we have had the opportunity to speak with and learn from. They are so reassuring and wonderful and in a scary situation like this, we couldn't ask for anything more. Just your prayers is what we need now.Pray for a steady hand for the surgeons, a peaceful awakening for Maddie when she comes out of anesthesia, and for a speedy recovery. Oh, and pray for a LOT of PEACE for her parents. We are total wooses and blubbering messes. She is so much braver than we are. We have a lot to learn from our baby girl!